A Thief In Time
by Adelaide Noble
Summary: A girl from our universe wakes up in a coffin, in the Whoniverse with only vague memories of her original life. But it wasn't the Doctor who saved her: It was the Mistress. And Beth Heaven knows that's not right. So what does Missy want? Why save this girl? Rated T for drug reference, swearing, and a suicide attempt later on.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Imagine waking up and discovering that your whole life was just turned topsy-turvy, from right-side-up to upside down. Imagine all the things that had ever seemed real suddenly becoming fake. Imagine... Imagine... Oh, I dunno, imagine that you've just woken up in a casket, lying on your back, staring up at the dark lid.

That's what happened to me, believe it or not. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but darkness. The smell of roses touched my nose, and when I stretched my limbs somewhat, they made contact with the wooden sides of the box. I noticed tiny cracks of light then, breaching the coffin lid, presumably ventilation cracks of some kind.

So what do you do? You're in a casket with airholes, and you have no earthly idea how you got there.

And something's wrong with your chest. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. It almost felt like my hdart was concussed, like it had hit its head and was seeing double, or rather, beating double. And then the lid was opening, lifting ever so slowly. It was almost like the world had turned into a horror movie, and the lid of Count Dracula's box was being raised an inch every hour for dramatic effect. Finally though, it was open all the way, and I was staring into the face of an older woman in Victorian garb.

I rolled my head to the side to get a better look at her, and I remember wondering why she was dressed like that. I didn't ask that however. Nope, out of all the cool or snarky questions I could have asked, I inquired of this lady: "Am I dead?"

She seemed amused by the question, or at least, it made her smile. The smile didn't reach her blue eyes though, which took in every detail of my face, seemingly trying to pierce it and stare into my brain. She replied, "I don't think you are. Do you want to be?"

"No, not really." I answered nervously, beginning to sit up.

The blanket that covered me slid off a little, and I caught a glimpse of a bare shoulder. I lifted it a bit more, discretely looking down. And then I was all fire, my eyes blazing with anger.

"What is it?" The Victorian woman asked.

"'Scuse me..." I began, hesitantly and through gritted teeth, "But I don't think I'm wearing any clothes. Care to explain?"

"Oh, don't worry, darling. They must have been burned in the blast of regeneration energy... Here." And she tossed a pile of black velvet my way.

"Yeah, er, thanks?" I asked, as though it were a question. "Right. So am I on drugs or something?" I added after a milisecond.

Madame Victorian lady turned away, and I began putting on the dress and all its accessories. The skirt was too long and the bodice didn't fit right, but the dress, as a whole, was nice. You know, if you were into that aristocratic villainous look. It was black velvet with gold accents at the trim, and streaks of gold on the skirt.

"Come here." Madame Victorian lady commanded, so I went, hesitantly.

She turned me so that my back was to her. I stiffened. Was she going to stab me in the back? I'd heard of psychos doing that... Oh God, I was going to die!

Apparently not, though. She didn't stab me, she just began lacing me into the thing more tightly and correcting the clumsy knots I'd made when trying to do it myself.

"Who are you?" I asked as she sinched me into the apparent death-trap.

"I am Missy. Don't you remember anything?" She asked, half condescending, half bored.

"No. Sorry. Did you just come from a party or something?" I asked, looking down at the bottom half of the dress.

"No. Why? Do you like parties? I never did, too many apes involved, and timelord parties always end in disaster." Missy replied, beginning to give an anecdote about some stupid party to which she went.

I tuned her out. This Missy was like a teacher I once had in seventh grade: she loved the sound of her own voice so much, it didn't matter whether anyone listened or not.

"There." She said, whirling me around again. "Have a look."

She brought out a full-length mirror and I gasped. I looked like... I looked like an evil china doll. But I didn't, or at least, I didn't used to.

I know what I look like. I'd cursed the mirror and my mother for it time and time again. I'd always been tall, rather plain but with an almost-good figure.

This girl, the one looking back at me was short, petite and kind of pretty. Actually, really pretty in a vampire doll way. Her skin was pale, unnaturally so. She looked like she'd just stepped out of a coffin and was about to start sucking people's blood, or maybe out of the Twilight franchise? Her eyes were a dark sapphire-blue, and very large. Her lips were unnaturally red, and they looked full, nothing like the mouth I'd once had. Even the nose was symetrical to everything else and the hair... The hair was a cascade of chestnut brown, longer and thicker than I'd ever seen my hair.

"You really are beautiful, aren't you, darling?" Missy cooed proudly, appearing behind me in the mirror.

"That's not me." I stated, whirling around to face her, feeling the anger building inside me, turning my blood to fire and the world inside my head into a chaotic mess.

"Of course it is. You regenerated."

"And you lost your sanity." I spat back. "Regeneration isn't possible, at least not in the real world."

"This is real." She replied, smiling serenely, sketching me a mocking curtsy.

"How?" I asked, whirling back to the mirror and glaring at this other girl, this doll girl.

"I made you. I re-wrote you with a broken chamelion arch and a lot of cleverness if I say so myself." Missy explained.

What the actual frick? Chamelion arch? 'Scuse me, but I'm not taking this. This isn't Doctor Who... It couldn't be. I certainly hoped it wasn't.

I took a look at Missy, actually looked this time, and felt my blood run cold. "Oh my God." I whispered, taking hold of the mirror. "You're the Master..."

"So you DO remember?" She asked, triumphantly.

"No, but wait, you're not... You can't be:.. How the... What? What the hell is happening here? That's a really accurate costume, but I don't really appreciate being kidnapped by a psychotic cosplayer." I realized I was babbling then, not her, and my hold on the looking glass was firmer.

And my heart was still beating double, almost as if there were two of them... 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. Over and over again, as if this were not some weird halucination, as if maybe I wasn't on LSD or something and this was real... This was actual and that wasn't a cosplayer, that was the Master, the fricking Master...

"What the hell did you do to me?" I asked, softly, trying to hold back the river I felt, beginning to collect at the corners of my eyes.

"I made you." She answered simply, and she took my hands, placing them to her heart, or rather, hearts. I felt them both beating there, the same as mine, against my palms.

"How are you doing that?" I asked, pulling away from her sharply.

"This isn't a game." She responded quietly, "I made you with a broken chamelion arch, your broken first body and one of my own regenerations."

And now, something scary was happening: I was starting to believe this crazy woman, to believe Missy as I should learn to think of her.

"Okay." I said, taking a deep breath. "In the event that you're not crazy and telling the truth, how'd you even find me, my first body that is?"

"You were just laying there." She replied, smiling wickedly. "So I thought: finders keepers. And so here you are."

"Okay. Maybe you are crazy. You just found a random girl laying on the ground in a random place and you thought: hmm, I'll take this?"

"Actually, my exact thought was.."

"It doesn't matter. No one gives a damn. Okay, so I'm a timelady. I can live with this because it's all some hallucinogenic drug, that's it. I'm really, really high and I watch waaaay too much TV."

"Don't be cruel. I'm hurt. Come on, we can sit down and talk about it." She said, her face morphing into a mask of mock-hurt.

"I'm not sitting down to a cup o' tea with the Master because this is just a bad trip. A really bad trip and I'm going to come down from this in my perfectly ugly body, out of this doll chick. And you're going to reverse this. If it's somehow not a trip, you're going to reverse it."

"Do you want me to?" She asked, all seriousness now.

"Yes please. I'd like that very much." I replied, calming down some. She wasn't smiling, she wasn't teasing, she wasn't trying to manipulate me. She wasn't calling me 'darling.'

"Well," She said, her face breaking into its manic smile, "I can't. And why would I want to? You are now the member of a superior race."

And this sent me over the edge. I reached up, as she was several inches taller than me and slapped her hard across the face. "You will NOT insult my species but what you are going to do is reverse whatever the hell you did. And I'm not playing."

"And if I can't? Then what?" She asked, challenging now. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Trust me, if you gave me a gun, I would." I admitted, truthfully.

"Well, no one's giving you a gun." She said, matter-of-factly.

"I wouldn't know how to fire one if I had one..." I admitted, the dam breaking now, tears flowing down my face. "I just want to go home. I don't want to be high."

"Suit yourself, then." She said in resignation, placing her hands to my temples. "But sleep now." The command resonated in my head, and though I fought, I knew the battle was lost. I felt my eyes closing the moment she finished her sentence.

"My name's not darling." I murmured as the edges of the world went black. "It's Beth. Beth Heaven."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke up feeling wrong and nauseous and sweaty. My long hair clung to the back of my neck, and I felt like the dress was cooking me.

I sat up, immediately regretting it as a wave of vertigo hit me. I leaned over, and promptly threw up into the scruffy bushes in which I was curled. I grimaced as I felt something digging into my palm.

I opened my fingers and found a small rectangular business card lying there. My palm was slightly paper-cut, as though my hand had been curled around it very tightly. It could only be from one person: Missy.

Groaning, I read the card. Her name was printed across the top in flowing script. Below it, I found a phone number. On the other side of the card, in small neat writing, I found: "Just in case you need me, darling."

I grimaced. Who'd faked that? It was kind of a good joke, I supposed, from one Whovian to another. So I kept the card, sliding it down my bra as there really weren't any pockets in this thing.

Speaking of which, who'd actually bought this dress? The Mistress? That was just stupid and impossible, but I couldn't remember so I almost didn't want to rule out the

possibility, even though it was just laughable. Either way, it was a nice dress. I should keep it.

I looked around. I'd woken at the side of a road, curled in the bushes.

Cars whizzed past me every so often, but no one seemed to question a girl in Victorian costume lying in the shrubbery. The sun was just rising, so they probably thought I was drunk and had just come from a historical masquerade. Maybe they were right.

That would explain it, I'd met another Doctor Who fan at the party and they decided to get me high and play a joke on me, just for the hell of it.

the thought made me laugh. It was so dumb and so skeptical, and yet... It was the only sane possibility. Or, almost sane...

I had no idea where I was. All roads look the same to me, just expanses of black pavement with little lines drawn on them and cars speeding past between the lines. I could have been anywhere in the US, or maybe abroad? No, definitely the United States. The cars seemed to be travelling along the right side of the road.

So where do you go? You just woke up at the side of a busy-ish road, you're wearing clothing right out of the 19th century and someone decided it would be a fun prank to give you Missy's business card. Oh, and you were just sick into the plants. And you think you may be sick again as you think about it.

With no idea of where I was or where I was going, I started walking through the summer heat, because the season was definitely summertime.

I wasn't wearing any shoes, so I lifted my skirt a little and kept a close eye on my feet. The shoulder of the road was warm, and I was glad that I'd woken up in the early morning. It would no doubt get hotter as the day went on. The air hung hot and heavy around me, but it didn't slow me down.

My heart was still beating double, but I could live with that. Maybe it was an after effect of the drugs? Yeah, that had to be the answer.

And there it was, not made of gold or jewels, but a more welcome sight by ten-fold. Welcome to St. Augustine, Florida! Oh my God! I was home! There were the city gates. I started to run then, laughing as my hair rippled in a slight breeze. A welcome breeze, I might add.

I had a friend, Audrey Fletcher, who might believe me, or maybe she'd know what happened... No, the latter was too unlikely. Audrey was never a pretty girl, and much preferred staying at home to going out to parties and getting high. She was my subserviant partner-in-crime, the girl who followed me with dog-like loyalty. And that was always okay with me. She wasn't just willing to do what I wanted, but she was fun and interesting and much nicer than I'd ever be.

Her house was a large square thing, just like every other house around it. The sun had risen more fully now, turnIng the sky to a dark blue cover for the world. It was still dark though, so I felt the raised numbers on the mailbox to judge where I was.

It was still too early to ring the bell, but I knew where her room was. I took several Spanish bayonette needles from the tree in their front yard and darted around to the back. I then threw the needles at the window, so that they hit the glass, running down it to collect on the window ledge.

Apparently, Audrey was awake. Less than a minute later, the window was opening, and her frog-like face was pressed to the screen, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Who, who's there?" She whispered, out into the early morning.

"It's me." I replied, moving from the shadows in which I'd been hiding.

She took a close look at me, taking me in from head to toe, before saying with all the toughness she probably had: "I don't know you. You need to get away from my house and never come back or I swear I'm calling the cops, okay? They'll arrest you." She added lamely, and I thought I saw a blush.

"It's me." I repeated. Then I stopped.

Beth Heaven. That wasn't my name. I knew that much... But I didn't know what it actually was. When I searched my mind for my name, for what people used to call me, all that came back was a blank. Or rather, a slippery memory I couldn't hold on to for over a millionth of a second.

"I don't know you." She repeated, more loudly.

"No. Don't do that. Your parents are going to hear you. It's Beth. I'm Beth Heaven." I said, flinching at the false name I'd given Missy.

"Hey, wait. Laura? Is that you?" She asked, hopeful.

"Maybe." I admitted, moving towards the window. "I don't really remember. I think I got high... Was Laura my name? 'Cause I told this, this woman I met that it was Beth Heaven, and I..." I trailed off, looking into the window.

"Hold on, okay? I'll let you in." She decided, and she began to slide the glass upwards, before popping out the screen. We'd done this before, many times.

I wriggled through, dragging the screen in with me, falling in a heap on her bedroom carpet like I'd always done before.

Something was wrong. I couldn't remember my name, but I remembered climbing through the window on nights gone by. When they said drugs had awful effects on your brain, they weren't kidding.

"Thanks." I whispered into the dark as Audrey put her window back together.

"Yeah, well. You have a lot of explaining to do, okay?" She replied, sounding scared.

"Yeah, I guess I do." I said in turn, brushing off the dress and sitting in her desk chair.

She came away from the window, more fully into the room and switched on the desk lamp, looking me over once more. I caught her envious expression before it was quickly masked.

"So who exactly are you? Because Beth Heaven can't be your real name, okay? Beth Heaven is a character my best friend made up."

"Do you remember when you got me, sorry, laura, into Doctor Who?" I started, taking a deep, calming breath.

"Yeah. I had to sit for five minutes and explain regeneration."

"Well, I was high, and I thought I did that. But you didn't recognize me and I can't remember a lot and now I'm not so sure. Was I high? Why would I get high in the first place?" I realized I was babbling again, so I clamped my mouth tight shut. Then, the tingling started.

"Are you okay?" Audrey asked.

"Yeah. I need to barf I think..." I said, my hand still pressed to my mouth.

Audrey hurried across the room, bringing me a waste basket. I leaned over it and opened my mouth. Vomit didn't come out though. Instead, a puff of golden energy left my mouth. I gasped, then hiccupped out some more of the stuff.

"Oh my God. That's weird, okay? Stop it." Audrey sounded panicked.

"I don't know how I did that, and my heart won't stop beating double." I confessed, beginning to cry now. "And I don't know what to do. I can't go home... Mom and DAD, they wouldn't get it. There's no fricking way they'd get it."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Let me feel the heartbeat, okay?" She coaxed, and I obedietly turned the swivel chair so that I faced her, allowing her to place her hands on my chest.

"Do you feel it?" I asked.

"Yeah. And I don't think you were high. This is going to sound really weird, okay? This is going to sound so weird, and I can't believe I'm saying it, but I think you were somehow made into a time lady, or maybe you've been one all along."

I felt a hysterical bubble of laughter build up and burst from me, along with another whisp of golden light. "That's rediculous. It's a TV show." I said, lamely.

"Yeah, I know, okay? But you definitely have two hearts. Two hearts means only one thing: timelord. You're fricking timelord. Okay, so if the show's real, that means the Doctor's real. We have to find him and ask him how this happened and why. You probably have a whole lot of timelord stuff you have to learn now and..." She trailed off, her face turning bright red.

"I don't know about the Doctor," I started nervously, taking another deep breath, "but apparently the Master's real." I handed over the card, and watched as Audren read it.

Her face paled, and her hands began to tremble ever so slightly. "Okay, Master's real. The one who killed a tenth of the human pupulation, he's real. Not the savior, the Master, okay?" She said shakily. Then, she stepped to the night table and picked up her cell phone.

"What the hell are you doing? The biggest asshole in the show and you want to call him?" I asked, astounded.

"Well, do you have a better plan? And besides, it's Missy. We don't know a lot about this new regeneration. Maybe she's nicer?" The last statement came out small and scared, and I noticed that she was gripping the phone more tightly, as though the plastic were a lifeline to all that was sane and good and normal in life.

I crossed the room, checking that the door was closed, as Audrey tapped the screen, typing the numbers carefully. She beckoned me closer, and I sat beside the chair. She pressed the speaker button and placed the phone between us. It rang.

And rang. And rang some more. Just as Audrey was reaching for the phone to end the call, someone picked up: "Hello?"

"Hello." I said, glaring at the phone. "I need to know now. Right now, right this minute. What the hell did you do to me? And don't you dare lie to me."

"Oh, hello, darling. I have never lied to you. I made you. Why wouldn't I tell the truth?"

"Because you're the Master." Audrey chimed in, stammering over her words a little.

"Oh dear, my reputation precedes me, I see. I'm tracing this call now, darling. Give me an hour and I'll tell you and your little friend everything you want to know." And then she hung up, and it took all my willpower not to throw the phone across the room in frustration and anger and some emotion between the two, an emotion that doesn't have a name.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"You can't stay here." Audrey said wearily into the silence following the call with Missy.

"Yeah... I know. She'll find you though, not me." I responded, sighing and looking over at her.

Her brown hair was a mess, and she was still in her pajamas, I couldn't help noticing.

"I know." She said, moving to a drawer and rummaging around in it, coming up with a small wallet. "Take this. Go get something modern and ring the doorbell, okay? I'll introduce you as Beth Heaven from school. That'll explain this... phantasmagoria to my parents."

"Thanks. Er, where'd you get this?" I asked curiously, looking down at the thing.

"Oh, it's my birthday money." She replied nonchalontly.

"Look, you didn't have to do that. I could have taken your phone, met her somewhere else and gave it back to you."

"I want to help you, okay? Besides, they'd never believe your real name is Beth Heaven. It's a dumb name and it sounds like it should belong to a hooker. Go buy something modern and ditch that somewhere. I'll introduce you as someone from school and say we're having a Doctor Who marathon."

"Wow," I said with a grin, "usually it was me who made the crazy plans."

"Yeah, well. I don't know how much you remember... We'll go over it later. You have less than an hour. Go!" And with that, she shoved me to the window and I climbed out.

I handed her the screen and started walking away from the house, in Victorian clothes with no shoes.

Walking along the shoulder for a time, I was faced with an intersection. To the right, there was another residential street. To the left, there was a street that led out of the development. So I took that.

I went along a bit more and found the local WalMart. It was open, and there seemed to be a few shoppers. The automatic doors whooshed open as I entered, and I made sure my skirt was covering my feet. I didn't think they let you into a store, not even WalMart, without shoes.

I walked back to the clothes department and sized myself up. Juniors. Yeah, I'd find something that'd fit there.

My pickings were awful. A lot of the items on display were brightly colored, flowery and looked like they'd suit an old woman.

I decided on a pair of slightly baggy denim-capris and a t-shirt decorated in a nautical print.

I got new under garments and a pair of cheap flip-flops as well, so after buying everything, changed back in an alley behind the store without shame. I'd had an extra twenty after the purchase of the clothes, so I bought a cheap school-type backpack and threw the dress inside. I thought I'd dump it in a dumpster later. Or maybe sell it to a museum for more cash to get an apartment and finish school? At this point, I didn't know.

I returned to Audrey's and after getting the leaves out of my new hair, rang the doorbell.

It was Audrey's mother who answered. "Yes?" She asked crossly, looking me up and down.

"Hey, I'm Beth. Beth Heaven... Audrey told me to pop by. Around, like now? Did she tell you?" I added quickly, looking into her simultaneously angry and unsure expression.

"No, she didn't. And if she has any sense she's getting ready for church." The last line was spoken loudly, shouted through the house.

"It's okay, Mom." Ai heard Audrey say from behind her, wearing a lace-trimmed white dress and running her fingers through her wet hair. "We were going to have a Doctor Who marathon later, but I told her she should come to church with me. You know, for... for Laura." She bit her lip as she said it, and shifted from foot to foot.

"Okay. I'm not going to be the one to say someone can't come to church... You'll have to change." She said, her expression softening somewhat when she looked at me.

"Oh, I'll let her borrow something, okay?" Audrey shot back at her mother, dragging me off down the hall and to her bedroom.

"What about me?" I asked when the door was closed, wheeling back to face her.

"Well... I'll explain later. Just put this on." And for the second time in this new body, I had a dress tossed at me.

She looked away as I changed, and I faced her mirror to be confronted with something really terrifying. The doll thing was really being accented by the pink, girlish dress which went down to about my knees.

"What the hell am I wearing?" I asked with a grimace.

"The dress I wore to my Aunt Lucille's wedding. Don't laugh, it's awful, I know. But it's the only thing that's probably going to fit you, okay?"

"Does your mother know where you are?" Audrey's mother, Mrs. Fletcher, asked when I emerged with Audrey in tow, feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the dress and some sandals a size and a half too big.

"Yeah. I told her, but if she shows up, it's because she wasn't listening." I improvised quickly, praying that if asked, Missy would go along with things when she did show.

"Okay." Mrs. Fletcher dismissed, and then promptly ignored me as she shouted for Audrey's sister, Taylor to get ready as well.

"What happened to me?" I asked, after shushing Audrey and escorting her out of the service room and into the lobby.

"What? You're right there." She answered, but it was obvious she was stalling.

"Come on." I guided her outside, and she sat beside me on a bench.

"It was Adam. Do you remember him?"

I scanned my memory, almost like doing a spotlight search on a computer. Search term: Adam. "No." I answered. "Should I?"

"He was your boyfriend. You'd been dating for a while... I guess I'll just... Okay, so we all knew he was trouble from the start, but you liked him. Me and Chelse and a few others, we watched him, okay? You started coming to school with booze on your breath and you'd giggle and tell me you were with him all night or whatever. It was only a matter of time before your parents caught you, so I just laughed it off. But you kept telling them: "I'm with my friends. Don't worry mom, don't worry dad, I'm with Audrey and Chelsea." And somehow they never caught on. Or maybe they did." She stopped for breath, looking over at me, her eyes flitting nervously to the church doors, as though someone would come out and hear the whole thing.

"And?" I asked, prompting her to keep at it.

"And you just kept going to parties and getting drunk. Well, it started getting really bad because you weren't showing up to school somedays. Not often, but it was noticeable. And sometimes when you did, you had a funny look on your face. No offense, by the way. I'm not a drug expert okay? But even I knew you were doing some of the bad stuff, you know, meth and some of the stuff you have to inject. I saw the marks, missy so don't-"

I cut her off sharply. "Don't call me Missy!"

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry. I forgot, okay? Anyways, you were in real deep, because now we were seeing bruises. You'd just laugh it off, but I knew he was hitting you. So I went up to him about it when you and me and him were down on Saint-George Street. He was nineteen, Laura. You were with a fricking nineteen-year-old. And then this blonde chick came along and she was really pretty and oh god, you got jealous." Her eyes were filling with tears now, her voice shaking.

"Audrey." I said, harshly, looking at her sharply. "Look, I need to know."

"I know, I know, okay? Well, this chick turned out to be some girl he was with at the same time as you. Eve, she called herself, which is really ironic, but whatever. She was all flirty and pretty and confident and it was obvious he liked her. Well, you didn't want your older man taken from you, so you flirted right back and Eve just kept giving you these looks like, shut-up-or-i-kill-you, okay? And you gave Adam some lip, like: "You don't have to flirt with every girl." I don't know what you said, you took him aside, but afterward, you didn't look very happy and neither did he. And then Eve was all like, "Get in the car, Audrey. You'll be fine, but Adam and Laura want to take the motorcycle. I, I watched as you got on the bike with him, smiling and laughing and oh my god, Laura, you were so pretty and confident-looking up there, okay? So I went with Eve. I know, it was so stupid, but you were right there and I... Never mind. But anyways, I was in the car, windows down, something poppish playing on the radio and you and Adam were cruising along beside us. And I was scared, because I didn't know where we were going, but wow, it was my first adventure! I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot, which I don't think Eve liked. And then I think he injected you with something and you screamed about going clean and he..."

She stopped then, but after taking a breath and wiping away a few rogue tears, continued: "And he threw you off. He just grabbed you by the waist and hurled you off the bike, but he held onto your wrist and I watched as he dragged you across the road. And I'll never forget that screaming as you were dragged across the road at a hundred miles an hour. At first you screamed words, called him names. Anything. But then it was just this primal scream, like you were in so much pain that you didn't know where you were, who you were. And then Eve, cool as you please, turned the car around and calmly drove me back to Saint-George in time for Mom to take me home. But before dropping me off, Eve told me not to tell, because if I did, she was going to kill me. And I believed it, Laura."

"You didn't tell the cops?" I asked, shocked. Audrey had always been the good girl.

"Well, no. I thought they'd find you, but they never did. A few days later, they found his body, but it was all burned they said. I never got to see, okay? They found your blood on the road but nothing else. But they guessed what happened. And that was six months ago, okay? You were dead. We all thought you were dead. I I was such a bitch, I didn't tell. But Eve, she was so fricking scary. She just stared at me and all my courage, it just went poof, okay?"

And she collapsed into tears, so there was nothing left for me to do but look down at her in shock, and put my arms around her while she cried because I died.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"A cup of tea is so hard to acquire in America." The cool female voice startled me as I preceded a still-sniffling Audrey into her house.

"What?" I walked into the kitchen, shocked to see Missy sitting at the table, a collection of loose paper spread out before her.

"What are you doing in my house?" Audrey asked, nervously, looking at Missy like she'd spring up and eat us.

"Oh, just looking over your sad attempt at a Shakespeare analysis." Missy sighed, making a mark on one of the pages and writing in the margin.

"And why are you doing this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," She said, the irritation evident in her voice, though her smile stayed intact, "I said I'd be here in an hour. That was an hour and a half ago. Goodness, darling, for a timelady, you truly are rubbish at keeping track of the thing... Now, what did I do with that draft? Ah, yes. Here we are." And with that, she turned her attention back to Audrey's homework.

"Er," Audrey said timidly, "what are you doing with my English project?"

"Fixing it." She replied. "But I think I've finished. It's still simply awful, but what do you want? You're only human... Now, darling. You wanted to talk?"

"What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?" Audrey's mother had by this time entered. Taylor, audrey's ten-year-old sister was trailing behind her.

"I was invited. How very rude to forget." Missy pretended to pout as she gathered up the sheaf of papers and pushed them to the middle of the table.

"I never invited you! Now get out of my house! Audrey, Taylor, go hide. I'm calling the police." Mrs. Fletcher seemed to have forgotten all about me.

"That's my mom." I said quickly, stepping forward to stand beside Missy.

"Oh?" Missy asked, cocking an eyebrow and leaning down to pick something up that was resting by her feet.

"Your mother? Beth, what is your mother doing in my house?" Mrs. Fletcher looked at me curiously.

She'd softened considerably towards me during the course of the church service. Maybe it had something to do with catching Taylor before she fell on the curb outside the church itself, or consoling Audrey after her breakdown over my death. I didn't actually question things. I just went along with them. Isn't that what you did, when your life was turned all upside-down and sideways?

"I have no idea." I answered, giving Missy a help-me-out-here look.

"Just coming to retrieve my lovely daughter. We have family matters... Now," She said vaguely, fiddling with an umbrella before continuing: "This won't hurt a bit, dear." And with that, she pressed a button at the base of the thing.

What happened next was something right out of a spy movie. A thin dart shot from the tip of the umbrella and embedded itself in Mrs. Fletcher's neck. A milisecond after that, another dart found its way into the neck of a pop-eyed Taylor.

"No!" I shouted, but it was too late. A third dart had found its mark with Audrey.

"Oh stop." Missy scolded with a roll of her eyes. "I didn't kill them. They're just sleeping. It will only last an hour or so, though." She set down the umbrella and looked me up and down again.

"Sorry, but I don't believe you." I decided, kneeling down to feel the pulses of the fallen family. Each person's heart beat strongly, though their eyes were closed and the darts were still embedded in their throats.

"Well," the Timelady remarked, her voice dripping with self-satisfaction, "My aim's improved."

"Who cares?" I asked, annoyed. She just knocks out three innocent people and all she can think of to do is remark on the accuracy of her aim? Nope, that doesn't sit well with me at all.

`So you just knocked them out. Because they were here." I stated, glaring at the Timelady.

"Well, I can't have any little eavesdroppers, now can I?" She asked, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"No." I agreed. "I suppose you can't. I don't know who you are, well actually I do, and I don't know what you want with me. But you have to change me back."

"Back? To what?" She asked, moving around the table to stand behind me.

I couldn't help it. I whirled around and faced her, looking her up and down. She was taller than me, though I had the feeling most humanoids (Did she count as a person?) would be. She was wearing a dress, which had probably been rather elegant in the eighteen-hundred, but what I now called old-fashioned. It really was pretty, if you were into that sort of historical cosplaying. Midnight-blue and very hindering in a fight. I could tell by the clicking with every movement that she wore high heels. I could use that against her, because although I didn't have much fighting experience, I knew heels were probably a bad idea.

"You know." I replied, void of emotion.

"To a human?"

"Yes."

"And why would I do that?" She asked, taking a bit of my hair in her hand, letting it fall through her fingers. "You're much more beautiful now, and you'll be ever so clever..."

"I have two hearts."

"Yes. Call it a backup if you like. You also have a more capable brain and twelve long lives ahead of you."

"But you can't do that." I said with a small laugh. I had to reassure myself that she couldn't, that she couldn't make a timelord out of a dead girl, like some twisted version of Frankenstein's monster. And there she stood, smiling rather manically, blue eyes shining with... Was that pride?

"Of course I can. I took a broken chamelion arch, and after programming a bit of my own DNA into the machine, rewired it to assimilate you to my biology. I found traces of regeneration energy inside you, and all it took was one of my own lives to activate you... No, not activate. That's such a cold, hostile word! How about... animate? Yes, animate you."

Animate? Oh, this chick had gone way too far. Animate didn't sound better than activate. I was Frankenstein's fricking monster, er, the Master's fricking monster.

No, I was no one's monster. I didn't belong to anyone. I could think for myself, right? Yeah. Yeah, I could. So she was the monster here. She'd made something, probably intended to control it.

My mind was an incomprehensible mess of thoughts and feelings as I lifted the kitchen chair, snatching it off the floor. I was going to do this, assault this woman. She was a madwoman, a monster. My thoughts were clear as I swung the chair at her, putting all my weight behind it. I was surprised when it connected, and obviously so was she, because she fell to the floor in the most undignified, un-ladylike and utterly satisfying way possible.

"What was that for?" She asked, indignantly, picking herself up off the tile.

"For making Frankengirl." I spat, feeling tears coming to my eyes.

"Oh don't be silly! For a Timelady, you think an awful lot like a human." She said, brushing imaginary dust from her skirt.

"I was raised human." I replied softly. "Did you know, my name was Laura?"

"There wasn't time to ask." She said, coolly, picking up her umbrella of sleeping darts and possibly death. "Are you coming?"

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Everywhere."

"Why would I go with you? You're the Master. Anyone who calls themselves the Master has some serious psychological issues."

This made her laugh. "And giving yourself the surname Heaven doesn't? Come along, darling. Time and space are waiting for us. We wouldn't want to keep them." She grabbed my arm, as if to drag me, but I wrenched myself away.

"No. They can keep a little longer." I decreed, before asking: "And why should I go with you, anyway?"

Before I could react, she was facing me, very close, and she'd placed a hand on either side of my head, her fingertips resting against my temples. "Because I can do this, and your mind is undefended." She said, but not aloud. Her voice rang out in my head.

1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. The drums, drums, drums. I did my best to jumble my thoughts, letting the sound be scattered throughout them. That ought to drive her out.

But it didn't. She merely laughed, the laughter filling my brain. "That won't work, you silly, silly girl."

I wrenched myself away, glaring. "But you're the only one who can do that." I stated, aloud.

"I can teach you to do it too. I can teach you to fly a TARDIS, use a vortex manipulator, pilot a void ship. I can show you the stars, the vortex in all its glory. Besides, the last companion I had shot me. I think it's time I had another, a better one." She finished, her solemn expression melting away to be replaced with her customary smile.

"And what if I'd rather be normal, rather not see all of time and space ta psychopathic crazy woman? Or maybe, what if I'd shoot you myself?" I challenged.

"I've been inside your mind, darling. I know you want to see. I know you'd rather not see with me, however. Let me tell you this way: whether you like it or no, you're coming. We're the last of our kind, and I'm not abandoning you."

"Fine." I relent." "I want a phone though, from this universe."

"Done. See? It wasn't that hard to strike a deal, now was it?" She asked, tossing me an iPhone. It was white and gold. Leave it to the Mistress to need a golden iPhone.

"How do I know you haven't tapped it?" I asked.

"You don't. You could always ask, though." She replied, examining her reflection in a pink mirror that had been lying on the counter, presumably one of Taylor's.

"Did you tap this phone?" I asked with a sigh.

"Nope." She responded, popping the p.

I picked up the pen that had been discarded on the table and began to scribble a note for Audrey on the back of the title page of her paper:

Audrey:

Gone to travel time and space with a crazy timelord. Apparently, there's a whole lot of timelord stuff I have to learn. If you ever need me, I've got her old phone. Just hit re-dial on her number. Be careful, okay? I'll keep her occupied. She won't go after you. Just... I don't know, try to explain this to your mom.

Your friend,

Beth

P.S. I hit the Master with a chair! And it was fun! She fell over. Just thought you oughta know.

Satisfied, I put the sheet at the bottom of the pile and turned to Missy. "All right." I said. "I'm ready."

"Come on then." She said cheerfully, and this time, I followed her willingly out of the house and into my new life while Audrey and her family slept peacefully on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Hello everyone! I'm glad everyone likes the story! I know I adore writing it. Anyway, this chapter wasn't planned at all, but I felt like I'd be leaving a plot hole if I didn't address how they'd be traveling through universes. But the plot will come! One day! Actually, really soon, but you know!

Missy led me around to the back of the house where black metal sphere was sitting in the grass. It sat there, as plain as you please, and yet no one seemed to notice it. The neighbors weren't flocking around, taking pictures with their phones, kids hadn't turned it into the latest form of playground equipment and the police hadn't caution-taped the scene or anything.

I couldn't help but laugh. "That's your spaceship? A big metal ball? God, Miley Cyrus would love th..." I trailed off, running a hand along the side of the thing.

"That, darling, is a void ship." Missy explained, irritated.

"Don't timelords fly TARDISes?" I asked, walking around the void ship and standing at its other side so I stood across from my new traveling companion.

"Yes, but you can't fly a TARDIS between universes. It would kill it. No, that's what void ships are for."

"And how'd you get a void ship?" I asked.

"I found it." She replied, pressing her hand to a certain point on the sphere, near its top.

With a hiss of what could have been hydraulics, a section of the sphere came away from the main body of the ship, creating a sort of ramp. It then folded itself into a slightly pricarious-looking staircase, with no handrail. The Mistress hurried up into the ship.

"You can come in, now." She announced from the interior of the ship.

Would it hold? Tentatively, as though I expected to fall through, I put my foot on the bottom step. It held, so I thought, what the hell? I climbed inside.

It was... well... Bigger on the inside. The interior of the ship was cavernous, really, with a cyllindrical console in the center. Missy was flitting around the cyllinder, pushing a button here, pulling a lever there. It all looked very complex. There were four seats positioned around the console and bolted to the floor. Straps and the like were piled in each chair, and a harness, like the kind you see on roller coasters, was positioned above the chairs.

"So do you have a TARDIS?" I asked, looking around the seemingly empty space.

"Of course I have a TARDIS. I needed a void ship to get out of the universe, but I much prefer TARDIS travel. Seat belts, please." She indicated one of the seats, and I bit my lip before sitting down.

One strap went around the waist, two over the shoulders like backpack straps, and the harness had to be set down over one's shoulders and snapped between the legs. to my surprise, they began to adjust themselves, tightening until I couldn't move. Two metal braces held my legs in place, and I found myself immobile in a rocket ship.

"Um, Missy?" I asked, glaring at the Timelady, who was now strapping herself in.

"Yes?" She responded, nonchallont.

"Why am I restrained?"

"Oh... You know... In-flight turbulence. Yes, let's call it turbulence. You'll be perfectly safe, darling."

"With you?" I muttered. "Doubt it."

"Be civil." She scolded, and with that pressed a button, moving our restraining chairs closer to the console.

And then, we were being pressed down, down, down, as though the gravity had been increased ten-fold. The ship filled with golden light" and was suddenly shooting up and away, with the sound of loud engines filling our ears. I couldn't help it, I laughed. It really was just like a roller coaster, an inter-demensional roller coaster with really cool lights.

After about five minutes, everything was still and the straps were loosening.

"I'm assuming we're there, in your universe?" I asked, beginning to unrestrain myself.

"Yes. Welcome to my universe." She said, doing the same and checking some readings on the console.

"And is your TARDIS out there?" I asked, excited to see one of the coolest things from the show that I liked, but Audrey liked more.

"No."

"And where are we? And where's it, if not out there?";

"The bottom of the Marianas Trench, I think."

"What? The Marianas Trench? Are you crazy? The pressure's going to kill us!"

"The TARDIS is just over there, strapped down in the corner. And even if pressure was the death of us, we can just regenerate. And yes." She paused before she delivered the last word, snapping her fingers as she said it, as though she were an actress onstage and she had to accent this very important last word.

"Yeah, well. I only have twelve regenerations left, and I don't even know how many you have, so let's not risk it. And yes to what?"

"I'm bananas." She answered, her smile one of manic pleasure. She looked crazy too, running here and there, messing around with something strapped about twenty feet away.

When all the restraints were removed, I could see one of those old grandfather clocks. You know, the ones that were almost big enough for a person to enter with pendulums and chimes.

"That's your TARDIS?" I asked, astounded.

"Yes, yes. We'll both fit, so no need to go on about that." She answered, unlocking the door.

Missy's control room was a mess of femininity and futuristicness. There was a control console, raised up on a small hexagonal platform. There were a few ornate chairs scatted about, and bookshelves that seemed to encircle the whole room. The pillars that held up the ceiling had a marble-like appearance, and if I wasn't mistaken, there were what appeared to be climbing rose designs making their way to the catheral-type ceiling. And were those veins of pale pink, shot through the marble? Wow, just wow.

"Nice console room." I commented, repressing my laughter.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." She replied somewhat frostily. "Now, you won't be flying today. Go change. Third door on the left, straight on and through that door, second door on the right, third doer on the left and there you are. There'll be a console in the middle. 1888, mid-class I think." Then she made a rather belittling shooing gesture, as if she were motioning her dog away.

"Whatever." I replied coolly, and hoping I remembered the directions, went on my way.

I re-entered the console room in a nice-enough sky-blue dress. I'd left my hair loose and I figured all I'd need was some lipstick. Then, I'd feel perfectly beautiful.

"Oh, it suits you!" The Mistress exclaimed, making a twirling motion with her index finger, as if to indicate me to turn.

I did a practice whirl, and then sashayed to the doors. "Okay. So out there, 1888 is happening? I'm going to 1888?"

"Yes. Earth, England, London, Whitechappel, 1888."

"Wait, what about Jack the Ripper? Didn't he er, rip, in this period?"

"Oh, he won't bother you, darling." She assured, slipping a silver bracelet around my wrist, moving my sleeve over it to cover it.

"What's that do?" I asked, examining the simple silver band.

"Teleport. Press the button on the inside of your wrist and you'll be transported to whereever the TARDIS is. Knock three times and I'll let you in."

"You're leaving me. In 1888." I stated, half excitement, half fear.

"Yep!" She exclaimed, as though it were the best idea in the world.

"But what about spoilers?"

"Spoilers?"

"Yeah, what if I accidentally give something away?"

"Oh, but then they'd think you were bananas and toss you in Bedlam." She replied gleefully, pulling a lever to open the TARDIS doors.

"Okay. Well. I hear Bedlam's nice this time of year." I joked.

"It isn't." She said, looking away from me.

"Well. Good to know. Yeah, okay. Bye." I said, for lack of anything better to say and strolled out of the TARDIS with all the confidence I could find.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was dark and raining outside the clock that was Missy's TARDIS. Droplets of water pelted down onto me, and I shivered. It seemed to be winter, or almost winter.

A constant flow of carriage and pedestrian travel made its noisy way down the street. I watched them from the grime-filled alleyway in which Missy had landed us. They were interesting: women in long skirts that got bigger and bigger by the second, men in top hats right out of a film.

"What are you doing back here?" A male voice asked behind me. The accent was British, and not very proper British at that.

"Oh, you know. Sightseeing." I answered lamely, flashing a small smile.

"Not the best place for that, is it?" He asked, smiling back. "Weather's going to get worse too I reckon, and besides, you don't want to be out here at night."

"Probably true." I answered. "But I'm not done sight-seeing."

"Sight-seeing in a back alley in the East End? You must be Bedlam!" He muttered, before examining me and holding out a rather grimy hand. "I'm John."

"Beth." I replied, shaking his hand. I wondered briefly if one did that in this time, but decided they probably did, because he held out his hand first.

"Hello, nice to meet you. Look, how about we go sightseeing round the pub. It's warmer in there and I'll buy you a pint so you can tell me where you're from."

A pint? What was that supposed to mean? Then it clicked: this guy was trying to take me to a bar to have a beer with him. Was that legal in 1888? My doubt remained, but I forced it down as I answered: "Yeah. Sure, all right."

"Excellent!" He said, smiling broadly before dramatically offering me his arm and asking in an aristocratic drawl: "My lady Beth, would you care to accompany me to the Ten Bells Pub?"

"Oh my dear Lord John," I replied in my own imitation of his accent "I'd like nothing better."

I placed my hand through his arm, and he led me out into the street, where we found ourselves meandering through the river of people.

I looked to the left at my guide to 1888, for the moment. His hair was dark-blond and all in a tousled mess. His eyes were blue. His face was rather handsome, if you were into the roguish look, marred only by a long white scar that seemed to meander down his cheek, coming perilously close to his right eye. His clothes were torn, but he didn't seem to care. He had the look of a dashing pirate, or maybe a thief who thought himself somehow noble. I did wish, however, standing so close to him, that he had bathed more. The smell of sweat and grime clung to him, tainting the image somewhat.

"Go sit there." He said, indicating a corner table.

I obliged, and thirty seconds or so later, he came to join me, carrying two pints of some kind of beer.

"Thank you." I said smiling politely, then taking a sip of the beer. It wasn't good, exactly, but there was a certain fire to it that I rather liked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Not many times you see a pretty girl messing about in an alley. At least, not lately."

"Probably not." I agreed, taking another sip of the drink.

"Ain't worried about Saucy Jack?" He asked, regarding me over the top of his glass.

"Terrified." I admitted. "I just figured, I don't know, maybe I'd figure out where I was going before it got dark and he wouldn't find me. Or maybe I'd tell Mr. Ripper I was his conscience and he was going to hell... I don't know. And I don't think he's going to find me of all people."

"Yes. But I think they all thought that." He grimaced, then looked across to me sadly. "I knew Dark Annie. It was a real pity when he took her."

"I'm sorry." I replied softly. It was odd, sitting here, in a bar, talking to a young man who had known one of the Ripper victims.

"Yeah. Nothing I could do, really. But you said something about not knowing where you're going?" John asked, all in a rush.

"No, I have no idea."

"Well, it's obvious you're not from around here, are you?"

"No. No, I'm not."

"Where are you staying. It's getting dark. Come stay with Nancy and me. She's my sister. It's not pretty, but the Ripper won't even think to look there."

"I don't know yet... I suppose I'll just sightsee until I find the right place."

"No." He said firmly, finishing his drink and slamming the glass on the table. "Not with the Ripper about. You can come stay with me. I shan't expect any of the others to be too happy but... If you work, maybe they'll understand it... Nancy, she could help you, teach you the old trade..."

"Trade?"

"Yeah, you know. Trade of the evening..."

"You mean a prostitute?" I asked, indignantly.

"Well, yes. If that's what you call it."

"No. I'm not going to be a whore, thanks." I glared at him.

"All right, all right. It pays the rent, I s'pose. But you could help me? Maybe?" He sounded so hopeful, I was tempted to say yes, there and then.

"What do you do?" I asked instead.

"I steal."

"Oh? Like, money and such?"

"course I steal money. What else would I take?"

"I don't know, pocket watches?" I spat back, laughing at my own stupidity.

"As a matter of fact... You can get quite the price for a good ol' gentleman's pocket watch."

I sighed. "Forget I said a word."


End file.
